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A wide Olphen touchdown, tyrickqul unclievable, just blue fire for a second time.
Don knew where he was going right away.
I want to hit that though, man.
I'm want to help you.
Someone will stup on his man.
Away Wattle Wattle to a shotgun, back to throw, looking at them up Myers touchdown.
It's Waddle his sixth touchdown pass the team. Drive Time with Travis Wingfield begins.
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Dolphins And welcome to the Draft Time podcast, part of the Miami Dolphins Podcast Network, covering your team, your Miami Dolphins. How's it going? Everybody? I am your host, Travis Wingfield, And on today's show, we want to hear from you. It's a mail episode. We haven't answered your questions in a while, so we're gonna get to a whole bunch of them. Plus Raheem Moster and Jerome Baker had media availabilities on Tuesday. We'll recap those and talk about their
games and their fits in this current system. From the Baptist Health Studios inside the Baptist Health Training Complex. This is the Drive Time Podcast.
Maggie Geff.
Caroline takes us right into it. We're gonna hear from both Raheem and Jerome Baker, but I want to hear from you guys right now. Let's go ahead and start with at Jason Underscore Sarny. You all know who he is, big time Dolphins fan. What's up Jason? With the Dolphins secondary very flexible with players who can play the boundary slot or even safety duties. Which defensive back is the
ultimate Vic Fangio chess piece to me? I think the beautiful part about this question is that the answer is multi faceted, and that's what opposing offensive coordinators are going to have to try to figure out on a weekly basis. I look at this team both offensively and defensively, primarily defensively as really able to adapt their game plan to attack that specific opponent for that specific week, and man, there are bullets all throughout the chamber for different types
of attacks you can potentially deploy. But I think about several names when you ask this question. The obvious answer is Jalen Ramsey, who think about Minka Fitzpatrick. I know we don't like thinking about him much on this podcast, but think about his role in the Alabama defense back when he was there under Nick Saban, where it basically was, let's put Minka in the most frequent position where.
The ball is going to be.
That's what you saw with Ramsey for the Los Angeles Rams last couple of years, where he would align basically on their best pass catcher, regardless of their position. And it kind of reminds me of like what the Patriots used to do, you know, with Darrell Reeves when they had him, or even you know j C. Jackson when he was in his prime with the Patriots, or all the great corns they've had there. Stefan Gilmour the obvious one that I forgot that for some reason, Like go
cover Travis Kelsey, go cover Christian McCaffrey. That's how you dictate targets at your best guy. They're not going to ignore their best pass catcher, but to do it, you're gonna have to go through our best and throw at him. So Jalen Ramsey is the obvious answer. Plus he just he does so much so well from so many spots. I also think about cater Cooho playing both inside and outside.
I don't know if he's the same mold in terms of that weapon you're talking about here, Jason, but I do believe that he can play both positions inside or outside, and his tackling down around the line of scrimmage is going to be a very, very valuable skill set for this defense. He's got versatility, he's got toughness. He is the right kind of kid for this Vic Fangio defense.
And I know you're asking this out of curiosity, but I also know that you know that I know you know that I'm gonna mention your boy, Nick Needham super versatile, super valuable. I think he's the ultimate depth piece in a secondary called upon as a starter really throughout the course of his career, but in that like backup primary role, I think it's perfect for him because you don't get a huge drop off when you lose a guy like an Xaviing Howard or a Jalen Ramsey.
At those starting spots.
Then you think about the safety position, and I think it really begins with just us having defensive backs, not necessarily corners and safeties like so many guys have these interchangeable skill sets, and what I keep thinking about and getting pumped up about is the possibility of like third and eight, and we're gonna go ahead and put Wilkins, Chubb, Phillips, Ogba, maybe David Long, maybe it's Zach Steeler, whatever you have up front as your rush package, and then your nickel
or dime defense with five or six DB's. You just put all six of those guys at the sticks and have them key the quarterback and say, if you want to run by us, you can try that. It's gonna take you more time than you have with our pass rush.
If you throw short, we're.
Gonna try to jump arount and that's how we're gonna get takeaways on you with guys like X and Ramsey and Javon and Cam Smith with eyes in the quarterback, and then maybe someone like Cater and Brandon Jones to come up and help tackle on those short throws, like have Mercy Man.
Let's go is this September yet? Great question, Jason.
Normally we have a one question per customer rule, but I'll allow this here since it's almost exclusively a mailbag episode at Bluefin TUA. Let's just go ahead and rip through these. Number one, is Wilkins extension still in the works? Chris Greer has said many times that yes, they are in communication with Wilkins representation. Number two, how will the offense adapt to how teams were playing in the middle of the field last year? I can't wait to find
out myself, because I don't know. I'm I'm not devising the you know, the offensive game plans. But it's not like they're just gonna stop doing it. They dominated that area of the field last year except for like two games. But run game and more short yardage options in the passing game really help expand the field and force you to play more blades of grass on defense and play closer to the line of scrimmage, which accomplishes what you're
talking about. I think a better run game and having guys like Higgins, having Azukama, having Barrios having a chain in the passing game will go a long way towards that. Number Three, Will Jason Sanders have any competition for his job? Guests will find out as of this taping he's the only kicker on the roster, and I still believe in Jason Sanders. Number four, how are Brandon Jones and Nick need him doing with their recovery.
Don't have access to that kind of stuff.
Sorry about that, but I did see both guys have shared their workouts.
On Instagram and they look good. So there you go.
At Fince Fan forty seven, A Chang's the highest drafted running back for Miami since Kenyan Drake. What's your view on his role his first year here in Miami. The way I see it is you have a luxury at that position where if he gets it right away, that's great because to me, he has I think the most talent in the running back room from a vision and speed and find the cutback laying skill set and the
ability to bounce off tackles even at his size. But I think you have the luxury to let him kind of grow into a role here and define what that role might be for himself as we go along, because you have Raheem Moster, who I think is a really good fit in this offense. Because you have Jeff Wilson, who this coaching staff obviously loves. Savon Achmed is a really good special teams and third fourth running back option you have here as well, and then Miles Gaskin's back too.
But I think that while a Chanin kind of figures out you know what the NFL is all about, you have that luxury of waiting on him. I do think it'll be Raheem and Jeff early on, and then I think if a go along, I could see a chain not just becoming like a one B option, maybe even your one A option as the year goes along. Plus his prowess in the passing game could be a factor as well. I think he could play some potential receiver positions for you.
He also returns kick.
So he has all the ability in the world to carve out whatever role he wants in his rookie season. Next one at Sobel Cards is a chain A zone scheme fit did he run in that system in college? Here are his pro football focused career splits. Two fifty one runs in zone schemes and one hundred and eighteen runs in gap schemes, So he's got more experience running zone and just watching the tape, there's lots of inside
zone on that A and M tape. Of course, my favorite run on his entire college tape is the first touchdown run against LSU last year. It's a prime example of him hitting a big play against outside zone.
I put it on my Twitter timeline.
A few posts ago. Go check it out. That is like to me, that play is why you drafted him here in Miami. That creates so much more attention. I talked about in the previous question in the short area of the field to open up space for guys like Tyreek and Jalen. Next question at j twin seventeen, I'm intrigued by the signing of UDFA punter Michael Turk. Did you have any experience in college as the holder on
field goals. Want to make a quick note first off, that we do not have any official signings jet from Udfa's. None of those contracts are done in signed s.
He'll delivered.
All that fun stuff got to go through physicals and all that things. All that stuff as well, so reported punter acquisition Michael Turk. So I had to go look this up because quite frankly, it's never something I would have thought to ask. But most punters do handle the holding duties and the reason for this if you didn't know where it used to be quarterbacks, the second quarterback on the roster of the depth chart, you used to
do the holding for the kicking. A long time ago, coaches became smart in this regard and decided to have their quarterback spending time holding kicks was a waste of time, a waste of resources. And since specialists have all that downtime during practice in between special teams, you know, portions of practice, why not have the guy who's chilling with the kicker and the long snapper be the one that
makes up the battery. So usually it's that way. I went to YouTube and found a I looked up Oklahoma field goals on YouTube, and sure enough, there is Michael Turk flipping the ball to the kicker on a fake field goal, so he has a touchdown pass on the resume in addition to punting and holding field goals. Next one at tominik one, when is Emery Hunt going to tell us about the UDFAS and the podcast?
Great question.
I think we're gonna have Emory on the March rather is it March May sixteenth episode? We have an episode on Tuesday, May sixteenth with him and the UDFAS.
I believe media availabilities.
We're going to recap rookie Minniecamp on the Monday episode in the fifteenth, So my plan is to record that podcast with Emory here soon and then roll it out for you guys on Tuesday, May the sixteenth.
There you go.
Let's go ahead and take a break right there and come back on the other side and get to more of your questions ahead of hearing from Raheem Moster and Jerome Baker. That's Next Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield, brought to you by Auto Nation. It's a Wednesday after noon here recapping media availabilities. Coming up here in just a second, but I want to go ahead and get right back into your questions here on the Twitter Meilbag, I put out the call at Wingfield NFL.
You guys respond.
I put a whole bunch of questions in this week, including this one here from at Miguel Bahamas. I know it's early, but are there any clear avenues to pick up extra twenty twenty four draft capital At the moment we do not have third and fourth round selections. That's an interesting question, and we obviously won't know, you know, much until probably around cut down time. You could get
summer activity, It's not very frequent that it happens. OTAs can I suppose can create some activity, but the roster is always a work in progress. So rest assured that Chris Career, if there's a move being made, is gonna make it. But what I look at here is the fact that this is going to be the toughest roster to make, and sometime for the Miami Dolph and I talked about them being the second best roster in the NFL on the show yesterday. It was tough to make
last year. I think it's even better this year. But when you get into those early September days and you're finalizing the fifty three man roster, like we see this every year, right, guys make the team, then you get veteran acquisitions, and all of a sudden, the original fifty three man roster changes. So with that in mind, I think you look at the positions of depth and there, to me, there are two right now for the Dolphins,
actually probably three, to be honest with you. Wide receiver is a super crowded room, right, and that's a good thing, a good problem to have.
It's not a problem at all.
Actually, maybe that's a move you make down the line where you can add some draft compensation and return because you know, let's say, obviously Ty Greek and Jalen one
two is pretty well spoken for. What if Azuokama clearly establishes himself as a three and Barrios is a good four for your returns, you know, specialist stuff and also the uh, you know, one on one matches we talked about in terms of shortyards and just being a guy that can win those one on ones inside, what if you know chosen Anderson Crow has had a role for himself. You have options there at the receiver position, so maybe a guy like Cedrick Wilson can bring back a draft pick.
I don't know if that's just an option I can think about when you talk about that spot, I think the cornerback position. If Camp Smith hits the ground running in the way that you hope he does as a second round pick. Like, let's say you come out of training camp saying I need Cam Smith on the field for sixty snaps a game. That would make the cornerback group pretty deep. And maybe a team needs a you know, I don't know who. It might be a Nick need him,
Maybe it's a Trill Williams. What if it is an Xaving Howard, Like what if you decide that that's the move you can make because you don't feel a drop off from him to camp Smith, Like I'm just spitballing.
There are options out there. Those are some of the ones I think you think about.
And then at the edge group two, that position is so deep, you know the obvious name there would be like an Emmanuel Ogba if Phillips and Chubb are gonna play all your damn snaps off the edge and you feel good about Malik Reid and Andrew van Ginkel, and you can get a you know, a high draft pick for Emmanual Ogba because he's a great player.
That would make some sense too.
And then you know, the running back position maybe is one where you can get a late round draft pick if someone you know beats somebody out and you have a really good competition there all summer long, Like look at the roster, anyone any spot, there's a first or second year player that pushes for time. If they earn that time, all of a sudden, you could have a decreased workload from a veteran, which could then spark I
guess a trade market. But those are some guys that I would look at as potential options at Morisante from an analytics point of view, who what do you think are the best free agents available for the positions of need? Well, again, what are the positions of need? I think offensive lines is where you start. That's really it to me that
in defensive line depth. So seventh round offensive tackle means you could still explore that area, right like Ryan Hayes does not come in here and solidify a position for you, just like any seventh round draft pick would not do that. I like a couple of guys out there. Cameron Irving. We heard about the visit he had with the Dolphins.
He's an intriguing player. He only played fourteen snaps last year, played three hundred and forty eight pass block snaps in twenty twenty one, and allowed thirty one pressures, So not great. Isaiah Wim is another guy whose name jumps off the free agent list to me. He's been pretty consistent with a career ninety four point five pass block efficiency, seventeen pressures last year on two hundred and twenty nine pass blocking snaps. Also has guard flexibility. He could be an
option there. Again, Devin Ah change the third round. Imagine he's gonna have a decent role on the team.
This year. Smith in the second round.
Same thing with dB, So I just don't know if those are needs anymore after the draft. And then defensive line is the one that I really think you know. Poona Ford is a name that really leaps off the page. He's a monster. He has over three thousand career snaps in five seasons and that comes to one hundred and twelve run stops and one hundred and three QB pressures. Really good player, and at linebacker. I never really got that one, to be honest with you, Guys, like between Long, Baker, Riley,
and Tindall, I think you're pretty well set there. Next one from at Southwest Florida underscore Fince Fan outside of Fleming and Lewan, Are there any other free agent offensive lineman out there you want target well for the sake of the shout out, and I wanted to get your name out here. You mentioned, I mentioned Irving and when you mentioned Lawan and Fleming. Eric Fisher is out there.
He was with the Dolphins last year. So was Brandon Shell, who I thought played really admirably considering he was an in season acquisition.
George Fan is a guy I've always liked, really good.
Athletic and sized profile there and played in a similar system with the Jets last season.
So those are some names to look at.
Isaiah Win I think is top my target list there for the Miami Dolphins at GS camp. Great work finding out Ryan Hayes won Basketball Player and Pitcher of the Year. That's a worthy nugget. Yeah, you bet. I think those multi sport athletes, that's the way to go for me. I think it teaches you more muscle, memory, more flexibility, just more overall athletic ability that winds up benefiting you and whatever sport you go in. And how about the fact that his mom's a Hall of Fame hooper at
Central Michigan University. Pretty cool. His dad played ball and so did his brother too. So a family of athletes there with the Hayeses. Next one here, last one here.
CJ.
Crosta. What is the Dolphins vision at tight end? I thought they wanted to draft a tight end who can block, But confused on the draft pick. Are we strictly going to be running three wide receiver sets? Well, the Dolphins didn't tell you that. I know that for sure, so I'm not sure where that comes from, but we'll find out I think Eric Sober has a chance to be a good blocker at Jerrema Smith has been adequate in
that role for a couple of years now. I love the idea of having Higgins and Connor as these potential high upside conversion guys. I'm a huge fan of Higgins's tape and I think that Connor had a great camp last year. So between both those guys, I feel like one's gonna hit, And to me, I think Higgins is gonna hit, man.
I'm really into his game.
As for the three wide receiver sets question, maybe maybe not. I mean last year they ran three receiver sets at the fourth lowest rate in the NFL, just forty five percent, And so we'll see. I mean they have they have depth at all, really, receiver and running back as so deep that you could you could argue, you know, going out there and plenty of sets that have two of each three receivers, two backs, like you've got options man. And then also I think Sober and Smith will play
a lot. I think Higgins could play a lot as well as a rookie. So we'll see good stuff.
Guys.
Let's go ahead and take our last break rate there and come back and talk about Raheem Moster and Jerome Baker and hear from them at their media availabilities. That's next on the Draft Time podcast, your host Travis Wingfield,
brought to you by Auto Nation. So I have some material here before we hear from both Raheem and Jerome that I want to discuss the two players that we've got here on the podcast, And first we start with Raheem Moster, and going back to last season, it was my opinion that Chase Edmonds would be the guy I love that signing. I thought his explosiveness, his passing game, prowess, the way he operates. I just thought they were all
great fits. And I thought that we saw plenty of flashes of that, the drop passes notwithstanding, but the more the year went on, and of course the decision to bring in Jeff Wilson when Chase was traded, we saw Raheem really take ownership of the offense and be that really top back. It's part of what makes me so excited for a chain. The combination of speed and decisiveness,
I think really maximizes how this passing game operates. The speed to the perimeter stresses the defense so much and it truly does become a pick your poison type of deal, Like do I crash the edge and sell out to make sure Raheem can't open it up and get twenty yards on us? Or do I hesitate and make sure that I see that neither ten nor seventeen Tyrek and Jalen is about to replace my vacated space when I go all out to get thirty one to the ground.
It's a conflict. Defenders have to ask themselves on every single play where the run and pass are both in play. How about this running around the edge for Raheem most or last year either end or tackle. From Pro Football Focus, eighty eight rush attempts four hundred and fifty one yards. That's five point one to three yards per carry. Since I brought him up and we're still inside of a week post draft. Devon a chain last year in college one hundred and nine attempts around either edge for seven
hundred and sixty nine yards. That's good for seven point oh six yards per carry. And when I look at these runs, I think the best part about them is that it puts fast players in one on one situations in space.
Right, It's not jamming.
It between guard and center and asking your back to power through a two hundred and fifty pound linebacker or the potential three hundred and thirty pound nose tackle who just sh shed a block. You isolate the forced defender off the edge, often in a position where they are full speed and our back is full speed. And trying to hit one hundred millions hour fastball with a full swing is tough, and that just tends to lead to more misstackles.
And I have the number to prove it on those edge runs.
Last year, a chain one hundred and nine attempts right of his fifty three missed tackles forced thirty nine came off runs from the edge. That's seventy four percent of his miss tackles forced. For Raheem Moster, twenty one of his thirty nine is good for fifty four percent. Put your guys in position to succeed. That's what we're talking about here. Let's go ahead and talk about Jerome Baker.
They'll go come back and do Raheems media and then Jerome's as well, you know, looking at his career to date, the usage what Broncos linebackers were asked to do three years under Fangio.
I wanted to look at that because while.
Yes, there is a bit of a pattern, you also got a big curveball in twenty twenty one that demonstrates the utilizing players to their strengths over just shoe horning your scheme into the pieces and hoping it works. So Bronco's off ball linebacker usage under Vic Fangio from twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one.
Looks like this.
In twenty twenty one, Alex Johnson blitzed forty three times, he played coverage one hundred and sixty one times. In twenty twenty, he was the top blitzer again with one hundred and forty five pass rush naps, one hundred and two more than the previous season, and Josie Jewell also had eighty.
Jewel was the top coverage guy that year.
With five hundred and forty five snaps, a huge departure those two years completely different approaches and attacks. Twenty nineteen was more like twenty twenty. Johnson had one hundred blitzing snaps and Todd Davis led the team in coverage from linebackers with five to twenty five, and AJ also played three hundred and seventy seven. So for Jerome Baker the
last three years, here are his pass rush snaps. One hundred and twelve last year, one hundred and fifty six the year prior, one hundred and thirty five the year prior to that. In coverage last year more coverage, right because a less pass rush five to seventy seven. Twenty twenty one he played four hundred and fifty coverage snaps and in twenty twenty four hundred and thirty coverage snaps. So what does that all mean. It means that Jerome has played in a similar defensive scheme for the last
three years, well four. Actually, it means that he's a three down player who plays ford and back, and it typically means that he can run. A guy with that
type of responsibility can usually run. And so I'm wondering how are the best ways they can utilize Jerome's speed That I can't give you an answer on just yet, but I think that we need the tape before we can make and he claims there, but I do think that David Long really compliments Jerome Baker and that he can open up that speed that Long can be the one that goes in there and cleans up the mess
and gets through all the muck. I thought the twenty twenty season was Jerome's best and a lot of that was created lanes and free runs of the quarterback based upon the scheme creating those chances for him, or having him operate in space out in the curl flat where he can diagnose and play downhill out wide. I think Long is exceptional at wading through all the trash on a given play, and I think the more he can do that, the more that Jerome's freed up to run
and chase really good stuff there. I think for Jerome's long term future here, or I should say for this season with his usage. And then Raheem, obviously he and a chain makes an exciting backfield tan to me, all right, let's go ahead and go back to the medi availabilities and start here with running back Raheem moster, just want to give you guys a heads up here off the top these press conferences today, who are really really good.
Let's go ahead and start here with Raheem being asked about why did you return back to the Miami Dolphins after last year's one year contract expired.
One of the biggest things for me is my family. So you know, I plan my roots here as you may know. But also you know, I just want to be back with the team. You know, as far as we've gone along last year, you know, I'm I'm itching and ready, especially the pieces that we've added, you know, during the offseason as well as in the draft. Man, you know, it's a great time to be a Dolphin and I'm excited to you know, help helps as much as I possibly can to get to where you know, we need to get to.
Raheem also touched on the mentorship of Devon a chan a little bit. I'll go ahead and leave that off the podcast here. You can find these press conferences in their entirety up on the team YouTube channel. And I'm going to come back with a later question where I followed up with Raheem asking about what can Devon do to really you know, I guess win coach students fille
over in that running back room. Let's go ahead and go forward here though to how nice was it to see Jeff Wilson brought back in addition to having you come back your former teammate with the Niners and last season and really just having the whole running back room in general, all back together.
It was honestly, that's the most exciting thing.
You know.
I was having talks with UH with student's about, you know, the before free agency, and I was like, hey, man, you know what will be nice is if we're able to get everybody back in in this in this building, in this room, because you know, the chemistry is just unmatched to any other place that I've been a part of.
You know, it's there's.
A lot of guys in this room that, you know, really really want to be great. There's a lot of guys that want to go out there and put their best foot forward. And that just makes you and I'm talking speaking in regards to me, it makes me want to go out there and play my best and put my best foot forward. So to be able to have you know, Jeff Savonne, Miles, John Lovett and Alex we're all in this thing together.
You know, it's definitely exciting and and I just can't wait.
And as promise from the previous question, what piece of advice would you give devon a chain about how to get on coach students feels good side?
Yeah, I mean, the easiest way to get on stud's good side is uh, just be present, you know, when he asked you questions, make sure that you understand the question thoroughly and then and give a good response. I mean, that's that's what you want to do in regards to getting on you know, Stu's good side. But you know it's all about patients in time too. You know, you got time and patience right now to understand this offense.
And that's what that's what he needs right now is a little bit of time to get used to everything, get acclimated on being a pro and everything like that.
Followed up with Raheem on that question about your number two in the offense for a lot of these guys, and it's been my theme this offseason right to talk about how continuity can really benefit this offense heading into year number two and for moster, a guy who has played in pretty much the same system for the last
several years, going back to the Niners. I wanted to ask Rahim, for a guy like you, how can the offense you know, slow down even more when it comes to reading blocks behind what was last year a new offensive line for him and now pretty much the exact same guys coming back.
Here's Raheem on that question. Was it a good question?
Yeah, you know, that's a great question, Dravis. You know the fact that we have this old line that you know, they they started hitting their stride towards the end of the year and then moving into the off season, getting his second year up under them. I mean, prime example,
I look at Connor, you know, Connor Williams. To take a take a guy like him, you know, he moved from being a left guard out in Dallas to you know, moving to center for the first time in his career and then having to learn his offense, making their right calls. And now I just feel like he's gonna he gonna take himself up to another notch just simply because he understands the offense a lot better.
So you got that chemistry right there. Everything starts up front.
If that those guys up front, you know it can make it happen, then we're gonna be in good hands.
And as as of right now, they're just they're.
All locked in, especially with Frank being being there to help him. And then we also got Butch as well, So I know Butch. I'm very familiar with Butch out in San France. So he's gonna have them boys over there. You know he's gonna get them right.
You probably saw the tweet about the camaraderie and the atmosphere and the energy in the locker room and throughout the team and the camaraderie. How it's been unmatched here for Raheem in his entire nine year NFL career. Here's a follow up for him on that, the importance of having that type of friendship with so many players on the team and it being like one big family, one big brotherhood. Here's Raheem on the benefits of a tight knit locker room.
Yeah.
I mean that that helps, you know, tremendous amount simply because you know, we were and when I said we, I mean I'm also alluding to, you know, Jeff Wilson when we were headed to the Super Bowl down here in hard Rock in twenty nineteen. The camaraderie on that team was unmatched. You know, it was something that was
very special because everybody was hanging out with everybody. So that's what you know, Mike is trying to do with this team now, is just trying to make sure that everybody's on the same page, you know, trying to get to know your teammate is because you know you're gonna need him at some point during the season, so we'll better way than to start that early on.
And that's what we're able to do right now.
So I would just say the general theme here for Raheem's media availability and go back and check it out if you have not seen the whole thing.
He's so good, he's so gracious.
He says thank you, and how's it going to every single person that asks him a question here on these calls. The last thing that I didn't put in the sound here, but I want to mention, was that he said he talked to five different doctors looking for somebody to sign off on allowing him to play in the playoff game, and they all said, no, your season's over, Raheem. You're gonna have to go to the shelf for the rest
of the season. And I would say the theme behind all of this was just the excitement and how geared up these guys are for the new season.
Here. You can feel it.
It's palpable inside the building, inside these press conferences.
When you hear the players talk to us.
Let's go next here to Jerome Baker, who spoke a lot about vic Fangio's defense David Long his teammates here on this defense. Let's go ahead and start here with a question for Jerome about what excites him the most with the X of know's from vic Fangio's defense.
It gives me some freedom to just go out there and just play ball. I mean it's sometimes you know, I ask like what's the rule or this, and you kind of giving me like it's not really a rule.
It's kind of you know, they'll play ball.
So things like that for a player, you know, just to have that freedom. You know, I've been playing ball for a long time, so it's one of those things is you know, I know what I'm doing is kind of giving the freedom to make it play.
I'm excited for that.
Great follow up here from hal Habit about can you give us an example about what exactly that means more freedom in the defense to go make plays. Here's your room respond to that great follow up question from how Habit.
Yeah, a quick example is just simple things like alignment. You know, there's something instance. It's not just an exact thing. It's kind of however you feel you can get your job done. You know, that's like a quick example you know, little things like that for a player, it gives your freedom of you know, you don't have somebody looking over your back or try to make sure everything is correctly right. Some guys play a different way and just that little freedom definitely helps.
This next one here might be my favorite answer so far I've gotten in this off season from Jerome Baker. He was asked about how simple it's been to integrate so many big names, so many superstar players into the locker room. And you know, we've praised on this podcast countlessly for the number of big time names and big time contributors and star talent that puts the Dolphins in the marquee and puts them in the win column more
frequently than the lost column. How do you integrate those big personalities into the locker room or Traditionally it's been thought that that's maybe difficult to do, but Jerome Baker says, it's the type of guy they bring in, not necessarily the fact that they're just a star player.
I always said this.
I never told them this, but you know, mister Greer and Mike, they do a great job of just getting guys that's just like they a great teammate you know, outside of great players, they're just great people. I had my initial thoughts of like, oh, we're getting the quote unquote superstar. You know, how is he gonna fit in the locker room where you know, we all push each other,
no matter who you are, we all push each other. Man, It's there no complaints at all, like even like going back to last year, but Tyreek King, it was like he pushed us to hang out with each other more, you know, having the Halloween party, you know, those little things of just getting their team together. He pushed it and he was all for it. He was the first one to say, let's play ping pong. He you know guys like that, Yeah, you know they come into locker room,
they really help us. You know the same thing with Chab, Like these guys come in and they just really want to be a part of the team that really want to win, and you know, it truly just helps the locker room as a whole.
A couple more here for Jerome Baker, I wanted to ask him about playing behind guys like Ray Kwan and mostly Zach and Christian, how they make his job easier. Speaking of the freedom to play in the defense, how do those guys make the job for Jerome Baker a lot easier.
I mean, those guys they're tough, their team players, and they have the ability to make plays on their own. You know, playing behind those playing behind those guys for a few years now, you kind of know what each player strengths are with some things that they don't really do. You know, when I play behind Kwan, it's a lot different when I play behind Christian. When I play behind
Christian it's a lot different than either. Like those guys are kind of different in their own way and just being just like with any sport, being around the guy and playing with the guy for so long, you kind of figure out what they like and what they like to do. I know, sometimes Christians just gonna shoot the gap and make the play.
You know, ra Kuan is just going to clog it up.
Like all these guys have different roles and different ways they play the game, and you know it's my job as a linebacker to make him right. And definitely getting a great feel for that in this defense, it allows me do you know other things now.
So definitely excited.
I think y'all are going to love this one. What are your early impressions of new teammate David Long.
Man, he fits right there, and you know his personality, everything he does, he gets right in. I'm excited he came in and he just strictly just wanted to work, just get each other better. And man, he's been doing that. Communication has been on the point. So I'm excited. You know, right now it's easy. There's no nobody's playing against us, so but you know, for now, it is definitely working out, and I'm excited. Man, he's one of those guys that it is not this or that. It's kind of let's
just talk through it and figure it out. And it's definitely working out.
If My theme this offseason for the offense was second year continuity and the improvement that comes from the incumbents for the secondhand nature knowledge of the offense. On defense, it's the shift to more eyes in the quarterback and a secondary full of ballhawks. So Jerome Baker was asked about how playing a little more zone looks how this defense in general can maximize the talent they have here from a personnel standpoint.
I think the main thing is it gives us a chance to really disguise and kind of make place. I'm not going to say our last defense I've been on. We can make plays, but it was a lot of rules like this is what you have to do, this is what it has to be.
This matchup has to be this matchup. There's no.
You know, switching with the guy or talking some about it's more this is what it is, and this is what we're gonna do in this defense.
It's kind of you.
Know, players figure it out. You know, there's not no set rules on how far your drop are. You know, this guy got to cover this guy. It's you know, you really know the defense and apply the defense of what the offense is doing. So it's a lot more freedom. There's definitely a lot more freedom. For the looks of it, It's definitely work out for us.
So there you go. Fun podcast here.
We always seem to find our way over thirty minutes, even though I thought it was gonna be about twenty minute show coming in.
That's just what we do.
Baby.
In the meantime, it's going to be my time.
You all please be sure to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, leave us a rating, and leave us a review. You can follow me on Twitter at Winfield NFL. Follow the team at Miami Dolphins. Check out the Fish Tank podcast. Emmanuel Ogba just did that with Seth and Juice. You do not want to miss that one. Check out the team YouTube channel, Media Availabilities, Dolphins Today, and so much more. Last, but not least, Miami Dolphins dot Com. Until next time.
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